June was hottest ever recorded in UK, Met Office confirms

Last month’s temperatures eclipsed the previous record by almost a degree

Last month was the hottest June on record for the UK, according to provisional Met Office figures.

The month saw an average mean temperature of 15.8C – eclipsing the previous record by 0.9C, while the previous top three Junes were separated by just 0.1C.

This soaring heat meant last month was the hottest since data recording began in 1884, with England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also reporting their respective warmest June on record.

Mark McCarthy, who works in the Met Office team responsible for weather and climate records, said: “What’s striking is the persistent warmth for much of the month, with temperatures widely into the mid 20s Celsius for many and even into the low 30s at times.”

He explained how last month “started with a good deal of high pressure and temperatures initially around average for many, but once that subsided, warm, humid air began to influence temperatures, with 32.2°C the highest temperatures reached”.

While many flocked to parks and beaches to take advantage of the warm weather, the Met Office warned that the increased heat was caused by “the background warming of the Earth’s atmosphere due to human induced climate change”.

This has “driven up the possibility of reaching record high temperatures”, Paul Davies, Met Office climate extremes principal fellow and chief meteorologist, explained.

As part of its work, the forecaster carried out a rapid study which discovered that the chances of a June beating the previous record of 14.9°C had at least doubled since the period around 1940.

The previous record of 14.9°C was recorded in 1940 and 1976 (PA)

The previous record was recorded in 1940 and 1976.

“By the 2050s the chance of surpassing the previous record of 14.9C could be as high as around 50 per cent, or every other year,” Mr Davies said.

“Beyond the 2050s the likelihood is strongly governed by our emissions of greenhouse gasses, with the chance increasing further in a high emissions scenario but levelling off under mitigation.”

On a more localised level, the Met Office revealed that 72 ceremonial counties recorded their hottest June on record, with many seeing a mean temperature more than 2.5C more than average.

Counties that recorded their warmest June on record stretched across swathes of the UK, including Orkney, Warwickshire, Surrey, Somerset and Cornwall.